The latest set of fare increases to impact public transport users to be announced will see new fares introduced on the Tyne and Wear Metro (as well as the Shields Ferry) from 1st July 2025. The announcement comes with the usual warning that the best way to get the best value fares is by switching to Pop Pay As You Go whilst fares for younger people are being simplified.
The new fares are said to be a balanced package which still offers passengers the opportunity to make savings whilst also helping to meet increasing operational costs.
As part of the package there is a simplification of young persons’ ticketing which will see the “Junior Blue” smartcard removed. This was available for under 16s and had a lower daily cap but with its removal anyone aged 21 and under will now be subject to a £2.20 daily cap through the “Pop Blue” smartcard (under 16s previously had a cap of £1.90).
Young people will still be able to enjoy a £1 single fare to continue to encourage them to use public transport.
Away from fares for young people, Nexus are advising anyone wishing to travel on the network that they can travel the cheapest by switching from paper tickets to Pop Pay As You Go. This will continue to offer a saving of up to £1.60 verses paper tickets (although both will be more expensive from 1st July 2025 than they are now).
John Fenwick, Director of Finance and Resources at Nexus, said: “Our fares package for 2025/26 will see discounts for PAYG customers maintained, offering a saving of up to £1.60 a day with a Pop card, or using the product via an Android smartphone. If customers switch to PAYG this year, they will be paying the same prices as paper ticket holders were paying between January 2020 and April 2021. We are freezing fares for young people, which meets region-wide ambitions to make public transport more affordable for them.
“Some fares do need to increase in order to help us address the challenges of higher operational costs which are increasing at 5.1% heading into 2025/26. We have put forward a balanced set of fares.
“In consultation with the North East Mayor, Kim McGuinness, we’ll implement the fare proposals from 1 July 2025 rather than from 1 April. Holding back the changes recognises the exceptional disruption caused to customers at the end of 2024 when the central Metro tunnels under the Gateshead flyover were closed at short notice for ten days affecting journeys across the whole network.
“Metro is a public service and doesn’t make a profit, so we require Government support, alongside the revenue that we generate from fares, to keep the system running.”
Included in the general increases will be standard season tickets, singles, and day tickets. The Metro Gold Card (offering unlimited off-peak Metro travel for pensioners and those with disabilities for an annual payment) will also go up from £12 to £15, the first increase in ten years. Gold Cards for residents outside Tyne and Wear is frozen at £24.
The increases across the board will average at 4.6%, which is in alignment with July’s rate of UK Retail Price Index (RPI) inflation plus 1%.